Cult of Mac

“The Mac is still growing, and I think it could still grow, but I strongly believe that the tablet market will surpass the unit sales of the PC market.”

Apple CEO Tim Cook said that at a Goldman Sachs conference several months ago. Cook has been one the industry’s most vocal proponent of tablets as the future of modern computing, and recent statistics support his argument. According to new data, traditional notebook computers will take a backseat to tablets in four years. By 2016, tablet shipments are estimated to surpass notebook shipments.

There’s no question that the iPad is incredibly popular and revolutionary. As the device continues to become part of our daily lives, we’re beginning to see the iPad take hold in schools, workplaces, and our homes. What’s the most common task performed on an iPad(or other tablet)?

According to research firm Gartner, the most frequent task is checking email.

In a new report, Gartner used survey data from consumers in the U.S., U.K. and Australia that was recorded in a diary-style format at the end of last year. Email was the most common task performed on a tablet but a more interesting observation from Gartner is that people are largely using tablets as a way to replace tasks that previously involved printed and paper in one form or another.

The report stopped well short of saying we’re going to become a paperless society in the near future, but it did identify some interesting trends.

You may occasionally wonder why Apple allows so much crap into the App Store. Despite there being thousands of excellent apps, hundreds of thousands of apps in the App Store’s 600,000+ catalog are worthless pieces or junk and/or knockoffs. Apps often slip into the store that should have never been allowed in the first place, and Apple has to pull the offending app after everyone else takes notice.

Apple employs a small group of people to approve each app that is submitted to the App Store. Mike Lee, a former senior engineer at Apple, has shed some light on what life is like for the people who guard the gateway to the largest and most vibrant app ecosystem in existence.

Apple has traditionally been opposed to putting a touchscreen on any of its products, leaving touch capabilities to only iOS powered devices. This hasn’t stopped the third party market though, as you can now buy an accessory that supposedly turns your iMac into a full, touch enabled computer.

SeedCode has announced a new and very impressive template/add-on for FileMaker Pro 12 and FileMaker Go that let’s FileMaker developers build real-time instant message style chats into FileMaker database systems. The new template, dubbed FMChat is built entirely using FileMaker 12, which means that no additional backend system is needed to use it.

FMChat is particularly impressive in that it allows chat participants to interact with each other and with database content. It’s even designed with automation in mind. Chat sessions can be used to trigger scripts and automated actions. Potential actions appear as links in the chat transcript. The template can be used in a number of different ways but some examples include approving purchase orders, accepting event invitations, and closing help desk cases.

The brand-spanking new Google Nexus 7 is arguably the biggest non-Apple tablet announcement since Amazon debuted the Kindle Fire. With a starting price of $200, the Nexus 7 isn’t really intended to be an iPad killer, although Google wouldn’t mind cutting out a piece of Apple’s pie.

The guys at iFixit recently tore down the Google Nexus 7, and their findings revealed that a one millimeter difference in thickness makes Google’s tablet infinitely more repairable than Apple’s iPad.

IT industry group CompTIA has announced the agenda for its upcoming Breakaway Conference that runs from July 30 though August 2 in Las Vegas. CompTIA will be offering a two-day/three-session training on mobile devices in the business and enterprise environments during the event.

The training, which CompTIA refers to as CompTIA Executive Certificate in Mobility (Foundations) Course 1, 2, and 3, will focus on three distinct areas – a session on the shift to a mobile workforce and the challenges that this poses for businesses, a session on locking down mobile devices using mobile management solutions, and a session on mobile app development.

Over the years, Apple has increasingly put more and more moisture sensors inside their laptops: little stickers that tell Apple Geniuses when a device has been exposed to liquid, useful for denying you warranty coverage for the iPhone you dropped in the toilet, or the MacBook you spilled a beer on top of.

No surprise, then, that the Retina MacBook Pro has moisture sensors inside the chassis, but what is more surprising is how many it has: ten in total, two more than the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air.

I suppose it makes sense: the Retina MacBook Pro is an expensive piece of kit, and Apple doesn’t want to have to replace any more than they need to. You may want to watch out for your drool hitting the keyboard when you first check out that Retina display, though: Apple’s not going to fix that.

Source: Hardmac

With GarageBand for the iPad, Apple has brought an inexpensive, very powerful music recording studio right to your favorite mobile device. This fantastic $5 app lets anyone with an iPad create, record and enjoy making music, even if they have little experience with recording software or musical instruments.

With a killer beat in place, it’s time to add the second (mostly unsung) hero of modern music: the bass. Whether your tastes run to big, fat and bottom-heavy or quick, snappy and distorted, GarageBand has you covered. With GarageBand for iPad, you can create bass tracks that sound incredibly good with very little knowledge or expertise.

Let’s take a look at the simplest way to do that: Smart Bass.

All great photographers know how to light well. And step one of good lighting is getting your flash off the top of your DLSR, where it sits and spews gross rays onto every one of your unfortunate victims, and onto a light stand where it belongs.

But how does one make a flash work when it’s not on the camera? The Phottix Odin Flash Trigger for Canon ($350) is up to the task, but that’s a major understatement. The Odin isn’t just another flash trigger system — it’s a Cadillac of features at a Honda price.

You iPhone’s headphone jack is just fine for listening to your MP3s with the crappy Apple-supplied earbuds, but what if you want something a little, shall we say, less terrible? You could of course spring for a high-end headphone amp with its own DAC (Digital Analog Converter), and pay hundreds of dollars for the privilege. Or you could dig $11 out from under the couch cushions and buy CableJive’s LineOut Pro.

I’m betting your address book is a royal mess. It doesn’t take long for it to happen, really. Sync in gmail contacts, then iCloud, then that CSV of leads from your CRM… You get the idea and you feel the pain, so let’s take some of the pain out of it.

Today’s deal is WriteThatName and for $20 (half off) you get a year’s subscription of intelligent, automagic address book management. Thought that might grab you, read on…

Michael Raskop is a German photographer based in Lucerne, Switzerland, and is the guy responsible for this set of cool artistic images of iPhones seemingly flying effortlessly in mid-air. Cult of Mac got in touch with him to find out how – and why – he made them.

One of the interesting points in the recent NY Times article on Apple’s retail stores is that many Apple store employees feel like their work experience goes beyond simply bringing home a paycheck and working in a retail store. Apple has deftly made them feel valued and like they are part of something much bigger than themselves.

In doing so, the company provides a model of how businesses can incentivize staff members even if budgets are too tight to offer raises or other perks. There are four broad areas or lessons that managers and executives at any company or organization can learn from looking at Apple retail – all them related to carefully developing a positive and collaborative corporate culture.

Following Apple’s Google’s leap into 3D mapping technologies, Amazon has acquired a 3D mapping startup of its own. The online retail giant today sealed a deal to purchase UpNext in a move that could signal the company’s intentions to bring 3D maps to its Kindle Fire slate without any assistance from Google.

If Apple made an iCamera, it would look like this. The Iris, a concept design by Mimi Zou, is so pared down that it doesn’t even have one button. And like Apple’s designs, this minimal approach brings some compromises.

On Monday, Sony Computer Entertainment acquired cloud-based game streaming company Gaikai for around $380 million in a move that is sure to excite fans of the company’s PlayStation devices. If the Japanese company uses its purchase to create a compelling alternative to OnLive, it has the potential to gain a huge advantage over rivals like Microsoft and Nintendo.

The same service could provide an even bigger advantage to Apple. In fact, there are a number of reasons why the Cupertino company should use its ever-increasing cash pile to make Mac and iOS gaming even greater.

Apple quietly updated its Apple Configurator utility that businesses and schools can use to manage iOS devices. The update brings with it relatively little new functionality to the free tool. Instead it focuses mainly on reliability and performance improvements. The update does, however, introduce some options for handling user content and user-installed apps.

Bought a new shiny, silvery compact camera? Think that maybe it’s a bit too silver? Then why not make it less silver by covering up the silver with some non-silver grip-tape? That’s exactly what PimpMyDigicam is offering in its Leather Kit for the Nikon J1, which guarantees that you’ll see less silver.

Until Tim Cook climbs onto the roof of Apple’s Cupertino headquarters and shouts, “we will never build an iPad mini” at the top of his voice, the rumors will continue to circulate. The latest comes from “various analysts” who claim the upcoming iPad mini will feature a 7.85-inch IGZO display from Sharp, and will start at just $249.

Or not. In an exhaustive (and for him, probably exhausting) 2,700-word article, Chris Suave has compared the icons of many apps that have moved from OS X to iOS (and sometimes back again). The results show that Apple is one of the worst and laziest offenders in the game.

Finally! Sure, we use that word far too often, but for the iCade Mobile, the physical D-Pad game controller for the iPhone and iPod touch, it seems somewhat appropriate. After what seems like years in development, and months since we saw it at CES, the iCade is finally available to buy at everybody’s favorite nerd-o-rama, ThinkGeek.

Based on its less than reliable track record, we always take DigiTimes reports with a hefty helping of salt. We wouldn’t advise you to read too much into this one, then, but it’ll certainly be interesting to those of you who are awaiting the new iMac refresh.

According to sources in Apple’s “upstream supply chain,” the Cupertino company’s new all-in-one desktop will enter production this month, ready for its debut “possibly around October.” Despite recent reports, the sources also claim that there is a “high chance” the machine will follow the new MacBook Pro and ship with a high-resolution Retina display.

Ringtones, right? How can you be the coolest kid on the bus without your own custom ringtone? You can’t, that’s how.

With GarageBand ’11, it’s very simple to make one, and we’re here to show you how.

All you need is the latest copy of GarageBand, iTunes 7.5 or later, a Mac that runs OS X, and some music. Oh, and an iPhone, of course. You can use music that you create with Magic GarageBand, record yourself all fancy-like, or import an MP3 track to GarageBand to make your ringtone. Here’s how.

As we all know, iOS developers just love an excuse to slash their prices, and EA is the first to show its celebrations for Independence Day. The company has discounted a stack of popular titles — including FIFA 12, Dead Space, and Mass Effect Infiltrator — to just $0.99 to ensure you stay busy before the fireworks start.

Here’s the full list.